The Hollowed Graveyard
by Robotic Draconian
Summary: The Charred Council has sensed a strange energy coming from the 'Hollowed Graveyard' - a realm where ancient warriors and beasts of legend were buried long ago - and have sent Death to deal with it. Though, unknown to his brother, War has been sent through a separate route, so that the problem might be dealt with more quickly.
1. Death

Death

Black lightning crackled within the red sky, striking within the area of a large tower with organic spikes protruding from the sides at random intervals. The tower looked as though it were covered in blood, long since dried since the spilling from creatures.

A figure appeared out of the thick mist that had kept so many a passerbies from reaching the unguarded structure, beating of hooves ringing throughout the air. Green flames met ash and dirt as the pale rider's steed sprinted down the stale road, blowing past the air itself.

Death's winged companion, Dust, hovered above, trailing after the two dead-like beings. Letting out a loud _squawk_, Dust flew down onto Death's shoulder. "You seem relaxed." The horseman remarked as his feathery companion began pecking at the interior of one of its wings.

Despair slowed and soon stopped as it pulled up to the steps that led up the blood-soaked spire. Death dismounted, the bottoms of his boots quickly getting covered in ash. "Stay here." The horseman commanded as he began the arduous task of climbing the steps that led to the entrance of Death's true destination; the _Hollowed Graveyard_.

The Charred Council had felt a disturbance within the area and decided that Death would be the one to investigate. He looked over his shoulder to make sure Despair did as he was told. He had no doubt that his steed could get out safely, but it was getting back in that the horseman did not feel safe with. There was a ward around the spire that kept things from simply getting there; even through dimensions. That was the whole point of the mist; to keep people out.

Dust still rested on Death's shoulder, but this time watching the steps, as if something would come out at any moment; which Death was sure would happen eventually. The most annoying thing about the tower, the horseman found, was that there was a platform that went around the huge stone pillar in the middle, _every floor_. Each flight of steps led to another platform, which led to another flight of stairs. Counted with the fact of how large the tower was, it was no surprise that most people couldn't make it to the top; especially with what waited at the top.

After an hour of walking, Death had finally made it to the top, his legs aching a little from the constant steps; though it was nothing but a small inconvenience to the Nephilim. The top of the spire was a large domed room, the pillar that had led up the middle of the tower ending about a meter above the stone floor; hollowed, green energy swirling around inside; it resembled that of a well. The spire was a pain to climb, though it was simply the doorway that led to the _Hollowed Graveyard_.

Taking careful steps towards the portal, Death began to feel a tremor run through the ancient stone tower, the energy from the portal pulsing as a skeletal being pulled itself out, armed with an old, rusted blade and armor that had a design that the horseman had never seen. More skeletal soldiers continued climbing out, shrieking through lipless mouths. Death sighed, unlatching his handheld dual-scythes and readying himself for the oncoming charge.

The skeletons sprung into the air, which surprised Death, as they landed nimbly, surrounding him. This was a situation that was easily solved as, when they charged, closing in on him, the horseman summoned his wrath, an energy interpretation of his true form shoot out of his body, swinging a large ghostly scythe in a three-hundred sixty degree arc. Bones flew across the room as more skeletons continued climbing from the portal.

Death charged as a whole new group had wrenched themselves free, ducking under a swipe of one of the swords to imbed one of his scythes into its back, flipping over it as another took a swing at him, and flung the pierced skeleton into the wall, the dismembered bones rolling down the open stairway.

Sidestepping another blow, Death swept his leg under the skeleton, tripping it, and then quickly followed by connecting his dual-scythes into one large scythe and smashing the blade into the foe's meatless skull; first cracking and then shattering the frame of the cranium.

The horseman easily flipped out of the way as a blade came crashing down towards him. He smashed his foot against the side of the rusted sword, shattering it, and then spun and kicked the skeleton's spine, shattering it in two and leaving it motionless on the ground.

He separated his scythe into its two smaller blades, as two skeletons charged him at once and he needed both scythes to redirect the blades into each skeleton's body, letting their own blades finish eachother off; their bodies tumbling motionless into the stone floor.

Death tried to relax, but had to quickly flip out of the way of a giant stone that had appeared out from the portal. Death stood ready for another attack, but after a minute of motionless and silence, he decided to take careful steps towards the portal.

He peered down into the swirling green energy, trying to see something that might've thrown the rock. A loud rumbling sound came from behind the horseman, which made him turn around to see the stone start to unfold itself. Once settled, it was a giant, animal-like beast made of large bones, strange green veins of energy pulsing through its limbs.

The beast pulled back its arm and swung, giving Death barely enough time to put up his arms, blocking little of the damage as he was knocked out of the ground and flung into the air, his body falling into the portal; the last thing Death hearing being a loud _squawk_ – mostly likely from Dust – before his vision was filled with darkness, his body falling into the _Hollowed Graveyard_.

To Be Continued...

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**This will be a short, 3-Part story.**


	2. War

War

War kicked up ashen dust, long since settled as he trudged through the cavernous halls of the dead. The Charred Council had sent Death to deal with the disturbance within the _Hollowed Graveyard_; yet they, apparently, also saw it fit to send the youngest of the Four Horseman through a different path. They said it was _"So that the situation might be dealt with more quickly."_ Now, War saw the reasoning behind sending in two of them through two separate entrances. What the horseman didn't see the reasoning behind, was sending his brother, who was much more agile than himself, up the top of a spire, and he, who was physically stronger, yet not nearly as lithe, through dark, cramped tunnels that needed a lot of maneuvering.

The second entrance – the one War was currently trudging through – had been covered and sealed long ago; though the Charred Council said that its power was weakening and that it would make no difference to destroy it a little early. War could've disagreed with that, as undead creature after undead creature charged through the entrance to meet him; which, now that he thought about it, was probably why War had been sent this way instead of Death.

The horseman sighed, having to have left Ruin outside, since he could not maneuver in the dark tunnels, nor could he chance his steed getting injured by summoning him while there were obviously wards keeping beings of all kinds from doing just that.

A tremor went through the tunnels, which War didn't like. _If the tunnels decide to cave in, then I'm as good as dead._ He did not know what was causing the tremors, but he bet that it was probably the same thing causing the disturbance that the Charred Council had prattled on about.

Finally, powering himself through a small opening, War was able to reach open area; well, technically it was still the cavernous tunnels he had entered through, though this part of the area was more like a large, stone dome. He looked up to see a huge tunnel in the middle of the ceiling. War could only guess at what its purpose was.

As he took rough steps, kicking up dust and ash with each heavily-placed foot, something in the room began to stir. War turned around to see a skeleton wearing rusted armor and carrying a rusted blade charged at him, having quickly pulled itself from the ground. The sword came down on War's shoulder, but his armor deflected the weak blade, shattering it to pieces.

War took hold of Chaoseater; its large blade smashing the skeleton into tons of pieces. That was only the beginning though, as platoons of skeletal creatures pulled themselves out of the ground, dirt and ash slipping through their bodies as they stood.

The horseman charged before the undead creatures could make a move, swinging Chaoseater in a large overhead arc, smashing into the firs line of creatures, shattering and cracking bones, throwing them across the room and splintering into other skeletons.

Expecting them all to charge him at once, War was surprised when one of the skeletons shrieked, beginning to climb the wall and into the hollowed out tunnel within the ceiling. Not all of them went, of course, as the majority of them charged for the horseman.

Claws and fangs of bone came down upon the giant of a man, simply deflecting or snapping as they made contact with the horseman's heavy armor. War began tearing through the legions of skeletons as Chaoseater began feeding power into his body, giving him the strength too easily decimate the legions of undead that aimed to take his life.

Overhand and underhand cuts, long, sweeping arcs and powerful, two-handed swings easily shattered the skeletal creatures into pieces, not so much as a scratch or dent appearing on the horseman's armor or flesh.

War dashed out of the way as a large blade came down upon him. The skeleton that had swung it was about the size of three of the normal skeletons he had decimated so far; but that was barely an annoyance to the horseman. He dashed forward, blade quickly launching into – and piercing – the ancient armor that was meant to protect the large skeleton. This, of course, didn't take it down. Not until War launched his blade upwards, splitting the bone warrior straight in two.

The horseman turned to see many more skeletal beings surrounding him. He sighed, becoming tiresome of the boring fight. As he began to charge, the horseman began to feel the ground tremble under his feet, the ground beginning to uproot in the middle of the domed room. A large, boulder-like…_thing_ shot out of the ground, knocking over War and most of the skeletons, and flying into the tunnel within the top of ceiling.

War grumbled something about the Charred Council and a rat's ass as the horseman got back to his feet, cracking his neck. The skeletal creatures weren't as quick as he was which allowed War time to strike them down, dragging Chaoseater through the ground and simply stampeding the undead beings, smashing them with his boots and carving through others with Chaoseater. A lot of them were on their feet, though that didn't help as War smashed into them like a freight train, simply shattering them and flinging their bones into the ashen dirt, quickly bringing his blade up and swinging it around as he ran, slicing through the skeletons as easily as his brother, Strife, would put a hole within an angel's head.

When the ash had settled, War stood a lone figure within a field of ancient bones. He looked around, enjoying the sight of his work, when he spotted something above. The horseman looked up, expecting another enemy to appear. But what he saw was no enemy; it was Death, falling headfirst for the ground. "Brother!"

To Be Continued...

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**Alright, well that's part 2 completed. One more and it'll be finished...I did mention this would be short, right?**


	3. Horsemen

Horsemen

Darkness surrounded Death as he fell, wind rushing past his face. He didn't even look down as he fell, for he found it pointless to do so, as it would only strain his neck, and show him nothing new. Harvester was still gripped tightly within his hands, their terrifying blades held harmlessly within the horseman's grip.

The darkness seemed to subside a little as he fell into a large chamber similar to the one that had held the portal, except that it was larger; _much_ larger. "Brother!" Death finally looked down, to see War standing in the middle of a field of corpses.

War moved quickly – much more quickly than his size indicated that he could. He sprinted at full speed, gripping Chaoseater in a reverse grip. In one smooth motion, the youngest of the horseman pulled his arm back and launched; throwing Chaoseater in his brother's direction, birthing a crater as his feet crashed into the ground.

Death immediately understood what his brother was doing. He changed Harvester into one scythe and threw out his left hand. Chaoseater flew just a meter under him, allowing him to grab the shaft of the huge blade. It continued flying for the wall, the horseman's weight not efficient enough to stop his brother's powerful throw. It – Chaoseater – struck wall, Death immediately followed by slamming Harvester into the wall as well. The horseman removed Chaoseater and immediately, he began sliding down, Chaoseater and himself too heavy for Harvester's singular blade to support them.

War ran over to the spot where his brother eventually landed, being handed his blade back. "I suppose I should thank you; though I really wish to ask for the reason of what you're doing here." Death immediately stated, pushing the end of Harvester into the ground and leaning on it.

"I was sent here for the same reason as you; I was just given a faster entrance." The statement seemed to annoy Death, though it was hard to tell with nine-tenths of his face covered by his mask. "Now I would like to ask why you were literally 'diving headfirst' to your death…Death."

The eldest of the horsemen sighed, "I won't have to answer that if you just wait a minute or two." The statement didn't satisfy War's curiosity, but he didn't say another word; simply turned around, pushed the tip of Chaoseater and leaned forward, waiting, watching the entrance in the ceiling that his brother was glaring at so intently.

Beginning to get impatience, War started tapping his feet, just about to ask his brother what they waiting for, when the tremor came. Death pulled out Harvester and separated it into it's dual-handheld blades. War quickly followed this by pulling Chaoseater out.

The giant, green-veined, bone creature didn't fall down the tunnel; but slid down. Its arms were long enough to reach both sides and, with boney claws imbedded into the stone, the creature slid. When it finally reached the bottom of the tunnel, it let go and smashed into the ground, the shockwave sending all nearby bones flying.

War eyed the creature, "Didn't think that something like that would be able to hit you." He didn't jest nor insult, for it was an honest statement.

"Well, it didn't exactly call ahead." The elder of the two Nephilim stated sarcastically.

The creature roared – somehow – and charged the two riders, swinging powerful, bone arms. War used Chaoseater to stop it, allowing Death to hop onto its arm and run up to the creature's head. He sliced down with an overhand strike and followed with an underhand using his second blade. Which seemed to do nothing but piss it off, for it didn't hesitate to use its other arm to take a swing at Death, who easily flipped off and behind the creature, easily avoiding it.

War saw that the creature was distracted, having seen Death as the larger threat. That was a mistake. War sliced upward, leaving a scratch in its hand. When he did, green energy flew out. _Souls._ The horseman realized.

An undead creature with a soul, check that, _souls_, was definitely something that the Charred Council would refer to, as a _disturbance_. "This creature is filled with souls! That's what's making the disturbance!" He knew that their was little chance of Death having seen the souls leak out, so he decided to tell him.

"Souls?!" Death flipped out of the way of another attack – which came from a boney tail, which the horseman had failed to notice until now. He examined the creature and focused on the green veins. "That would explain the veins, at least." Death switched Harvester into one long scythe again. "No matter. I have reaped more souls in a day than this thing could possible even hope to contain." He flipped out of the way of another swing – this time from the scratched arm – and swung Harvester, the blade catching a joint, the scratch leaking out more souls.

War dived under the creature's legs, smashing Chaoseater into the ground. The ground uprooted as tons of giant blades, that looked a lot like Chaoseater, came out of the ground and stuck the beast's legs, a torrent of souls flooding out and the veins within the creature's legs disappearing. War jumped out of the way, the creature's legs giving out, which forced the upper half to crash to the ground.

A large cloud of dust, bones and ash blinded the two horsemen's views. Death skulked the perimeter of the cloud, while War stood his ground, Chaoseater held firmly. Neither of them were surprised when the creature rose appeared from the cloud. Within the spur of a moment, the two Nephilim had transformed.

Energy formed around War as he was lifted in the air, a quick pulse changing him into the giant, volcanic beast. Hunched forward, wielding a massive, volcanic sword in one hand, War's Chaos Form was a terrifying sight. A pair of large arms, legs and a pair a small wings. A demonic-formed head snarled as his large tail swung behind him.

A large scythe appeared in front of Death, which he grabbed. With a firm grip, the horseman pulled, energy almost instantaneously changing his form. An old, blue cloak that was weathered and torn covered most of his form. A cowl shadowed his face within complete blackness, revealing a skeleton underneath. No legs, but two rather large skeletal arms hung out of the rove, purple wrappings covered with rusted, metal cuff and arm guard. Two skeletal wings hung from his shoulder blades, webs of sticky meat connecting them. A skull-spiked pauldron sat on his left shoulder, while a rusted, ornate belt held a glowing, green hourglass, lantern and a large tomb. He hovered in the air, not with his wings, but with pure wrath.

In his Chaos Form, War could not jump nor move very quickly. But that was fine as he was within striking distance. Using a powerful, two-handed underhand swing, War sent the remaining half of the creature into the air, souls spilling out into the air. Death quickly followed by flying up above and launching a blade of energy into the creature, quickly dashing down and slicing with his over-sized scythe, the blade smashing into the blade of energy just a moment after it connected with the boney creature. The energy exploded, weakening the creature to where Death's scythe sliced it straight in half. Death was back to his normal before he even reached the ground, landing gracefully on his two leathered feet. War quickly reverted to his large, armored form as the creature smashed into the ground, the two halves landing on either horseman's side and scattered the many bones; souls flying freely.

Death cracked his neck as he watched the souls disappear; heading for the Land of the Dead. "Well, my job here is finished," He looked up towards the tunnel, "Though I really don't feel like climbing all the way up there." He turned to War. "Where'd you enter from?"

War began walking off for one of the tunnels, "I believe it was through that tunnel over there."

"Believe?" Death asked, skeptical.

War shrugged, "Hey, a man can lose his direction within the chaos of battle." Death sighed and shook his head as he silently followed his brother – hoping that they could find their way out.

The End!

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**Well, hope you enjoyed it! Happy Halloween!**


End file.
